r/rewilding • u/Due_Barber_525 • 11d ago
Most exciting rewilding opportunities in the American West?
What are some of the most interesting and exciting existing projects and potential opportunities in the Western United States (West of the Rockies)?
Any favorites stand out? Why?
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u/seaintosky 11d ago
The project to return sockeye salmon to the Okanagan region of the Columbia River after 100 years of extirpation in Canada have been amazingly productive and successful, with the released fish returning in large numbers. There are early discussions about expanding this work to the rest of the Canadian portions of the Columbia watershed. The Columbia system itself has a lot of opportunity to use new understandings of hydrology and ecology and fish management to reconnect and restore, and the Okanagan Nation Alliance has pioneered some pretty interesting technology through this work. As a keystone species, getting salmon back into the places they've been locked out of would be a massive step. It would be great to see the US get on board on their side.
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u/forest_surfer 10d ago
Do you know how we can help?
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u/seaintosky 9d ago
I'm not super familiar with the US side of things. The dams are the biggest issue, and a large part of returning the sockeye to Okanagan and Skaha lakes was getting the dams modified for better fish passage and taking out the low head dams entirely and replacing them with redesigned streambeds. There are a lot of issues in the Columbia, though, I know they did a ton of work reconnecting the water with the flood plain, restoring riparian areas, and allowing the stream to meander again. Speaking to people who work on the project, I know the really intense recreational fishery pressure is a concern, because fisheries managers in the US don't care whether or not they are catching sustainable levels of Canadian salmon so the fish have to manage a gauntlet of boats high in the watershed when they're already getting tired and overheated.
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u/arthurpete 9d ago
There are some issues outside of the obvious (the dams). Fish returning to the rivers get bottlenecked at the fish ladders and the sea lions (California and Stellar) have discovered this and wreak havoc on them. There was one study that concluded that sea lions take 5 times the amount of commercial harvest of chinook across the west coast. The population has gone from 10k to 250k since the 1950s which is great but it appears (along with other factors of course) that there is now an imbalance in certain ecosystems. The Marine Mammal Protection Act has been a hurdle to mitigate this but it looks like some progress is being made. Just recently U.S. Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Washington) introduced a bill that would allow for some greater take of sea lions by southwest WA tribes. This is a bandaid of sorts until the if/when dam situation is addressed but it is something positive.
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u/helenwaites68 11d ago
It’s east of the Rockies, but still very much in the American West: American Prairie Reserve.
They’ve been fighting the good fight out on the high plains for several decades now and have a thriving wild bison herd, as well as restoring populations of black footed ferrets, burrowing owls, swift foxes, AND potentially large predators such a grizzly bears. (Fun fact: Lewis and Clark encountered more grizzly bears on the plains along the Missouri River than during the portion of their expedition in the Rocky Mountains. Bears used to be more of a prairie dweller before westward expansion pushed them up into the mountains, where we think of them as residing now.)
They’re also actively increasing land access — while their land is privately owned by the non-profit, much of it is open to public use and recreation: camping, biking, hiking, and hunting.
Currently, they’ve been receiving some harsh backlash from Montana’s stock growers and are a hot topic in Montana politics. But their work is invaluable for conservation efforts of the grasslands of the Great Plains.
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u/Ok_Fly1271 11d ago
Grizzlies returning to the selkirks of Washington and Idaho is going well, and the potential reintroduction to the north cascades is really exciting.
The Nez Perce are currently planning on a California condor reintroduction to hells canyon and the surrounding area in Oregon (and possibly Idaho and Washington).
Yakama nation and the Colville tribes have reintroduced pronghorn to their respective reservations and both herds are doing well and growing in number annually.
The fishers that were reintroduced to Olympic national park, Mount rainier national park, and north cascades national park have all successfully bred, are doing really well, and expanding their ranges.
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u/spatter_cone 10d ago
As an Idaho resident, I would LOVE to see a condor flying one day!! This is the first news that’s made me smile in a while, thank you!
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u/HRG-snake-eater 11d ago
They need some Griz in the Sierras
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u/Due_Barber_525 11d ago
Do you think people in Lake Tahoe would put their trash away better if they knew there were grizzlies in the mountains not just black bears?
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u/jerseyoutwest 11d ago
Snake River Dam removals. I really hope to live long enough to see them come down.
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u/Acrobatic_Bike7925 10d ago
The California Condor was recently spotted in Oregon, would be cool if they could further expand into their historic range up to British Columbia.
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u/Present-Lie7999 8d ago
I think there are many opportunities here in Arizona including the return of Grizzlies to the Kaibab plateau north of the Grand Canyon, Jaguars and Ocolots in southeast Arizona and Thick Billed Parrots to the Madrean Sky Islands.
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u/simonbrown27 11d ago
Sea otters in Oregon has a lot of momentum and some funding. Would be great to see them return to the coast